Introduction by Niall Bolger

The church parish have asked our school, Colaiste Choilm, to help them with their parish website.Each week students from Transition Year will have a chance to have their articles put on the website. The articles will be for all age groups, informing students about religious topics. We hope you will learn something from these articles.The students are delighted to get the opportunity to do this for the parish even though it will be a bit of a challenge for them.

The Oratory By Brian Norris

In our school we haven a room called the Oratory. This room is for prayer, Reflection, and relaxation and we are allowed to go to the Oratory for one class a week.At the beginning of the class, we reflect on the previous week and think about anything bad or good that’s happened in our lived. We also take time to pray for anyone who is ill or in need of a prayer.Also during the class we get some time to relax and to think about the importance of family, friends and God.It is a class that I really enjoy and I would miss it if I didn’t get the chance to go there once a week.

India Project

My name is Brendan Bracken and I am 15 years old. I am writing on behalf of Colaiste Choilm. I have chosen to write about the approaching India Immersion project.

Last May, over 30 students went through a rigorous selection process for the project. Out of these 30, 12 were chosen. I was one of the luckier ones. When I was told I was picked, I was absolutely delighted. I could see how disappointed the students that didn’t were. Then we began to hold weekly meetings. In these meetings we watched video clips and looked at photos from previous trips. Most of these photos were shocking which gave me cause to become nervous. As a group we have become closer because we know that when we get to India we will need all the support we can get from each other. We have held many meetings and discussions since we were chosen and now, with 4 weeks to go, I am extremely eager to begin the project. I am looking forward to the challenge and I am still wondering whether I will be able for it or not. I know that the sights I am going to see will be horrific but the experience will be once in a lifetime. I realise now how close the trip is, I have just applied for my visa and I am receiving my vaccinations today.I realise that it will be an amazing experience and I am really looking forward to it. The proposed dates are the 11th – 27th Nov. I will update this website after the trip.